Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), a committed leader that collaborates with technology companies to create breakthrough designs, has introduced the latest additions to its TZ1000 series of ApP Lite™ processors targeting the Internet of Things (IoT). TheTZ1011MBG and TZ1031MBG application processors are designed to help developers meet the fast-growing demand for wearable IoT devices such as activity monitors, smart watches, bracelets and glasses.

Toshiba and the Gyroscope

Last year, Toshiba launched the TZ1001MBG and TZ1021MBG, which integrate sensors, an ARM® Cortex®-M4F processor, 8Mbit Flash memory and a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) communication controller and 3-axis accelerometer in a single package, providing the essentials for a small-scale IoT device. The new application processors further expand sensing functionality, adding a 3-axis gyroscope to the TZ1031MBG and a 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer to the TZ1011MBG.

“There has been an explosion of interest in services that monitor duration and level of physical activity, help improve nutrition and help prevent diseases related to lifestyle – all of which drives demand for wearable devices,” noted Saba Sharifi, vice president, business development, Logic LSI Business Unit, System LSI Group at TAEC. “With their high degree of integration, Toshiba’s newest ApP Lite processors make it possible to realize wearable devices without any other components – enabling a smaller form factor and, in turn, smaller, lighter wearables.”

The new processors are expressly designed for the low-power performance essential to securing a longer battery life for wearable devices. The high-performance ARM core with DSP and floating-point processing unit allows combining data from multiple sensors, both internal and external, to improve accuracy.

Toshiba Expands Wearable Tech Solutions

The products integrate a 24-bit high-resolution delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with high-speed switches connected to three input channels, making them capable of measuring weak biomedical signals such as pulse rate and the heart’s electrical activity. In addition, integration of the BLE controller and RF circuit allows transfer of raw and processed data to external equipment, such as smartphones and tablets.

Toshiba is further expanding its lineup of systematic solutions for the TZ1000 series with the development of software algorithms that can be applied to measuring weak biomedical signals, such as pulse and ECG. Meanwhile, Toshiba is providing an evaluation environment for developers to shorten the time to market for products integrating its application processors.

Toshiba Availability

Sample shipments of the TZ1031MBG and TZ1011MBG ApP Lite processors will start this month. The devices are scheduled to begin mass production in May and June, respectively.

ApP Lite is a trademark of Toshiba Corporation. ARM and Cortex are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARM Limited in the EU and other countries. Bluetooth is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc., and Toshiba uses it under license.

“With the total beer market up only 0.5 percent in 2014, craft brewers are key in keeping the overall industry innovative and growing. This steady growth shows that craft brewing is part of a profound shift in American beer culture—a shift that will help craft brewers achieve their ambitious goal of 20 percent market share by 2020,” said Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association. “Small and independent brewers are deepening their connection to local beer lovers while continuing to create excitement and attract even more appreciators.”

Craft Brewers and Small Business

Additionally, the number of operating breweries in the U.S. in 2014 grew 19 percent, totaling 3,464 breweries, with 3,418 considered craft broken down as follows: 1,871 microbreweries, 1,412 brewpubs and 135 regional craft breweries. Throughout the year, there were 615 new brewery openings and only 46 closings.

Combined with already existing and established breweries and brew pubs, craft brewers provided 115,469 jobs, an increase of almost 5,000 from the previous year.

“These small businesses are one of the bright spots in both our economy and culture. Craft brewers are serving their local communities, brewing up jobs and boosting tourism,” added Watson. “Craft brewers are creating high quality, differentiated beers; new brewers that match this standard will be welcomed in the market with open arms.”

Note: Numbers are preliminary. The Brewers Association will release the list of Top 50 craft brewing companies and overall brewing companies by volume sales on March 31. Additionally, a more extensive analysis will be released during the Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America® in Portland, Oregon from April 14-17. The full 2014 industry analysis will be published in the May/June 2015 issue of The New Brewer, highlighting regional trends and production by individual breweries.

1 An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional. Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales). Beer production is attributed to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Independent: Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs) are not considered beers.

2 Volume by craft brewers represent total taxable production.

3 Figure derived from comparable data set based on 2014 update of craft brewer definition.

# # #

About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The Brewers Association (BA) represents more than 70 percent of the brewing industry, and its members make more than 99 percent of the beer brewed in the U.S. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR℠: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, AHA National Homebrewers Conference, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®.

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association. The Brewers Association is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital/familial status. The BA complies with provisions of Executive Order 11246 and the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor.

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/craft-brewers-reach-double-digit-growth/feed/03 Ways To Keep Business Growinghttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/3-ways-keep-business-growing/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/3-ways-keep-business-growing/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 15:30:22 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=41937By James McAllister As a business establishes itself within a market, it’s not uncommon to see its rate of growth slow and plateau. This usually indicates that you’re nearing the saturation of your market; however, it doesn’t mean that your business needs to stop growing. The key to continued growth in business is to constantly […]

By James McAllister

As a business establishes itself within a market, it’s not uncommon to see its rate of growth slow and plateau. This usually indicates that you’re nearing the saturation of your market; however, it doesn’t mean that your business needs to stop growing.

The key to continued growth in business is to constantly identify new markets to expand into. To help with your own growth strategy, we have listed some key areas of development to focus on as your business grows.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

In the digital age, every business has an internet presence, whether they’re aware of it or not. It’s important to embrace and optimise this online presence with SEO techniques to help broaden the reach of your business and spread its reach into new markets.

Growing Your Business

The process of optimising your website for search engines is too vast to cover in one article, but you can find a useful beginner’s guide here. However, to help get you started, we have covered some basic steps below.

Links

Links are an important part of optimising your website. Securing external links will help strengthen the authority of your site, and properly organising your internal linking will help distribute this authority across your pages, and allow search engines to properly crawl and index your site.

Keywords

Keywords are phrases that search engines associate with your site. It’s important that you properly consider and target the keywords that are most relevant to your potential customers in order to improve your website’s reach.

Titles and Headers

Headers and title tags are useful for helping Google understand and match pages to relevant search terms. Ensuring these are all correct is a good way to drive relevant traffic and leads to the correct pages on your site.

Optimising your website is an ongoing process, but if you spend enough time on it, you will be rewarded with not only new leads, but also the potential to spread into new, broader online markets.

Go Green

Consumer buying patterns are constantly changing, but more recently a lot of emphasis is being placed on the sustainability of a business and the product/service they sell. The ability to incorporate a green business ethos can offer you a competitive advantage over those that share your market place.

Writing an environmental policy is an ideal way to plan and begin implementing green practices in your business. Steps you take could be as simple as using more sustainable suppliers, or taking advantage of government grants to replace electronic equipment with more energy efficient alternatives. Not only will this help you appeal to a new more environmentally conscious demographic of customers, but it can also help strengthen your bottom line by saving on your business energy bills.

Collaboration

Collaboration is the thrust of the web. Not only can it help build new relationships that result in more authority for your site, but it can also help cultivate new relevant leads for your business. The key to harnessing collaboration in order to develop these new leads, lies in identifying the right influencers for your market.

If you approach these influencers with collaboration opportunities that are not self-serving, but entertaining and useful, then it is possible to help push your business out to wider audiences in relevant markets. This may not directly lead to tangible sales for your business, but it can work wonders for your brand awareness.

These techniques are just a handful of ways that a business can expand into new markets and facilitate business growth. It’s important that, as a business owner, you always keep one eye on the future. Stay vigilant of opportunities to progress into new markets and you will be rewarded with more consistent growth for your business.

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/3-ways-keep-business-growing/feed/0Six Best Voicemail Practiceshttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/six-best-voicemail-practices/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/six-best-voicemail-practices/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 15:00:40 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=41950Six Voicemail Best Practices for Increased Follow-Up By Frank Paterno Phone calls are an effective form of outreach, but not every prospect will answer your first, second or even tenth call. Instead of reducing the amount of effort spent on a potentially profitable lead, you can incorporate these voicemail best practices to increase follow-up. Voicemail […]

By Frank Paterno

Phone calls are an effective form of outreach, but not every prospect will answer your first, second or even tenth call. Instead of reducing the amount of effort spent on a potentially profitable lead, you can incorporate these voicemail best practices to increase follow-up.

Voicemail Business Builders

Be Clear

Relating who you are and why you are calling is a simple, but effective strategy to increase returned calls. Another important thing to clarify is your company’s unique value proposition. Being as specific as possible will help your prospects understand why they should not only return your call, but the great benefits they can achieve from doing business with your company.

Be Confident

Demonstrating confidence in your voicemail will separate your message from the rest. A positive, professional tone will not only help the prospect remember you, but will make your message more believable. Whether it’s dates and times or the unique things your company offers, you will be able to grab and hold the prospect’s attention and enhance your overall sales efforts.

Be Brief

Finding a great middle ground in regards to message length is an important feature of voicemails. 30 seconds is a great time frame for you to efficiently share essential information. Utilizing a conversational tone in the message can also add a personal touch. Once you have established guidelines, you can look into voicemail automation to create consistent and concise messages.

Be Memorable

Avoid being one of the numerous unreturned calls by capitalizing on your 30-second voicemail opportunity. It is important to share all relevant information including your name, company and phone number in a personalized manner. It is also vital to repeat your contact information at the beginning and end of your message to increase your chances of following-up with the prospect.

Be Strategic

Company data can be thoroughly analyzed with relevant metrics such as the amount of returned calls. Sorting through your findings can reveal important factors and trends that can be incorporated into your future voicemail efforts. Modifying and improving your messages can lead to the development of the most optimal strategy and increase the amount of returned calls.

Be Efficient

Instead of worrying if your messages are starting to sound monotonous, you can ensure that your voicemails will always be strong with pre-recording. You can incorporate the above best practices and even pre-record several different voicemails to tailor your message to your unique prospects. There are also integrative services that can assist you in developing consistency.

About the Author

Frank Paterno is Vice president of Marketing at IntelliConnection, is a creative and analytic marketing and product executive with hands-on and management experience identifying, creating, delivering, and communicating value with technology-based products and services. Corporate and product marketing enhanced by strong technical and financial background.

By Kevin T. Mullins

Senior Vice President, Electronic Services, IBC Bank

1. Q: What is an EMV chip card?

A: A Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) chip card contains a small computer chip embedded in the card which generates a unique one-time code for each transaction, making them much more fraud resistant than traditional magnetic-stripe cards. EMV chip cards have been in use in Western Europe, Canada and Mexico for several years but are just starting to catch on in the U.S.

2. Q: Why is the industry changing from magnetic-stripe to EMV technology?

A: By transmitting unique authentication codes for each transaction, EMV technology provides a higher level of security for both cardholders and merchants. Card-present transactions in countries using EMV technology have a significantly lower occurrence of card fraud than other regions.

3.Q: How does using an EMV card differ from using a magnetic-stripe card?

A: Instead of “swiping” your card, you will either “dip” the card into a slot on the terminal for contact-based transactions or “tap” the card on the terminal in contactless transactions. In either case you will then either sign your name or enter your PIN.

4. Q: How does this change impact merchants who accept debit /credit cards?

A: Merchants are urged to replace their current Point of Sale (POS) terminals with EMV-enabled equipment by Oct. 1, 2015. That’s the date liability for fraudulent transactions conducted with a counterfeit debit card shifts from the card issuing institution to the merchant.

5.Q: Isn’t fraud the bank’s problem?

A: As of October 1, 2015, if an EMV debit card is used at a POS terminal that does not support EMV and a fraudulent transaction occurs due to a counterfeit card being used the liability shifts to the merchant. If the fraud occurs after the merchant upgrades to EMV-compliant equipment the issuer (bank) takes liability.

6. Q: Is there any penalty for not upgrading POS equipment?

A: Merchants are not required to replace their current equipment. Most new EMV-enabled cards will also have a magnetic stripe enabling merchants to continue processing transactions as they do today. It is a business decision whether to take the risk of continuing to process magnetic-stripe transactions.

7. Q: Will merchants be charged any differently for EMV-enabled transactions?

A: Merchants should contact their transaction processing companies to determine if there are pricing differences.

8.Q: What kind of training will my staff require?

A: Handling an EMV card transaction can differ greatly from a swiped magnetic-stripe transaction. For example, an EMV card transaction must stay dipped in the terminal for the entire transaction. Early removal will terminate the transaction. Restaurants, for instance, typically take the card away for processing. Those businesses operating with “back-of-store” terminals will experience changes when terminals are brought to the cardholders to either sign or input a PIN.

9. Q: Where can retailers learn more about their options and the risks associated with accepting debit/credit cards after the Oct. 1, 2015 liability shift?

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/the-emv-chip-and-new-credit-card-rules/feed/0Preserving Startup Culture and Energyhttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/preserving-startup-culture-energy/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/preserving-startup-culture-energy/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 09:57:09 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=42199How to Preserve a Startup Culture as a Company Grows New Stanford GSB course focuses on startup team dynamic challenges Buzzing about which new startups will prosper and which will flop is a favorite pastime in Silicon Valley. But a new company’s prospects aren’t based on just what the company creates, says Stanford professor Lindred Greer. […]

Buzzing about which new startups will prosper and which will flop is a favorite pastime in Silicon Valley. But a new company’s prospects aren’t based on just what the company creates, says Stanford professor Lindred Greer. They’re also based on the people creating it and, more important, how they treat one another.

Startup Success

“Startup success is as much about managing the people as it is about creating the product,” says Greer, an organizational behavior professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Based on her research on entrepreneurship and team dynamics, Greer will teach a new course at Stanford GSB this spring focusing on the unique team-dynamic challenges faced by early-stage startups. In a recent interview, she offered tips for managing startup teams.

Be Aware of Culture in the Early Stage of Startup

The culture of early stage startups forms the backbone of the culture the company will have in later years. Therefore, paying attention early on to the type of culture you want to create is critical.

One aspect of startup culture, Greer notes, is the emphasis the founders put on equality. While egalitarian cultures can motivate workers and encourage a free flow of ideas, they are often hard to maintain when companies scale and managers have to make hard decisions that go against the grain of the egalitarian ethos.

“The first time someone has to be fired, the culture of equality may be shattered,” Greer says.

In order to preserve this culture as they grow, startups must find ways early on to balance the need to motivate workers and give them a voice with competing organizational needs for structure and hierarchy, she says.

To illustrate this point, Greer offers an analogy about the fateful day a child discovers that Santa Claus is not real. There is no changing that reality. But, says Greer, a parent has a choice between saying “Tough luck — Santa doesn’t exist” and “I’m sorry the man in the red suit doesn’t exist, but the holiday spirit does.”

Likewise, a founder can say, “Tough luck. I can fire whomever I want.” Or, she can find a more respectful way to communicate this to the remaining employees and preserve the spirit of equality while maintaining her position at the top of the organizational hierarchy.

Keep It Professional

Resolving conflicts at startups can be more difficult than at other types of companies, Greer says, because founding members are often friends. Conflicts may be more personal and intense. Likewise, it may be difficult to keep communication and interpersonal dynamics focused solely on work-related matters. Greer recommends that startup teams designate a time and place in the office where people can talk through work issues in a professional frame of mind, “consciously choosing to set aside personal bonds.”

Stay Humble

Founders who maintain a humble management style and share credit for successes will empower others. “If you ask for voice and opinions, show that you actually do something with it,” Greer says. A founder who blindly pursues his vision without feedback from others can lead the company into disaster.

Ice Cream Helps

Leaders who actively value team contributions tend to make themselves easily accessible to their subordinates. For example, Greer interviewed one CEO who created a self-serve ice cream area at his company to promote more frequent and spontaneous communication between management and employees.

Avoid Overlapping Skill Sets

Entrepreneurs often form companies with friends or classmates with whom they share interests, skills and personality traits. But ignoring the need for true complementarity “is the number one mistake startups make, at least in the early phases,” Greer says. Maintaining a high-performing startup is possible only when teams have complementary skill sets without much overlap. If everyone is, say, a finance expert, who will run operations?

Provide Clarity

Ideally, each member of the team brings his or her own unique and needed contribution to the success of the enterprise, but managers also need to provide guidance to teams. To avoid unnecessary confusion and competition, leaders should clearly delineate who is responsible for which tasks.

Greer is testing this concept at the Atlanta Tech Village, a startup incubator in Georgia’s capital. Working with a group of several founding startup teams, she advised half to clearly identify each member’s unique specific role in a forthcoming task. Then she asked all the groups to build towers using marshmallows and sticks of spaghetti. The teams that received an intervention about establishing clear roles, she discovered, built more stable towers. She is now tracking the groups’ actual business performance over the next two months to see if it reflects the same results.

Ask Outsiders for Help

Company founders who surround themselves with a team of experts will help ensure there is a culture of respect for employees. Doing so sheds light on how companies such as Apple and Google have succeeded despite more autocratic-leaning founders. “Those people were counterbalanced by very strong peers at the management team level that complemented their personalities and helped them lead more effectively.”

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/preserving-startup-culture-energy/feed/05 Small Business Tax Deductionshttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/tax-deductions-for-small-business/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/tax-deductions-for-small-business/#commentsFri, 27 Mar 2015 09:27:57 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=42176Are you considering all of the tax deductions to which you and your small business is entitled? It’s tax season and as uncanny as it may sound, hundreds of small businesses happen to overpay their taxes because they overlook certain tax deductions. The major reason behind this phenomenon is that the business owners miss out […]

Are you considering all of the tax deductions to which you and your small business is entitled?

It’s tax season and as uncanny as it may sound, hundreds of small businesses happen to overpay their taxes because they overlook certain tax deductions. The major reason behind this phenomenon is that the business owners miss out on numerous legitimate tax deductions. John Gregory, tax practitioner and founder of 1040Return.com, shares 5 tax deductions for small business to consider.

Tax Deductions You Must Consider

“Claiming tax deductions would cause the taxable income to shrink and ultimately reduce the amount of taxes payable,” says John Gregory EA, tax practitioner and founder of 1040Return.com. “The fear of showing up on the IRS’s radar and putting themselves at the risk of being audited is very common among the taxpayers. Hence, many of the small business end up missing out on several tax deductions that they are actually entitled to claim.”

Here are a few tax deductions that most business should consider claiming so you can potentially save hundreds and thousands of dollars in taxes:

Start-up Cost. There are two components of the method of availing deduction for start-up cost of your business. IRS allows you to deduct a portion of the start-up cost in the first year of commencement of business. The remaining portion is amortized over the next 15 years / 180 months of business, beginning from the month in which your business becomes operational. The amount that you can deduct in the first year itself depends on the total start-up cost.

Reimbursed Expenses. The employees that are a part of your small business might need to incur expenses in the course of fulfilling their professional responsibilities. You as an employer reimburse the expenses incurred by your employees. Many small-business owners do not realize that the reimbursed expenses qualify for tax deduction. Business-related expenses such as travel and transportation, meals, accommodation and the like incurred by the employees are the ones that you usually reimburse. The employees are required to confirm the expenses within 60 days from the time they were incurred. Also, they are required to refund the excess amount that they have received in advance if any, within 120 days of incurring the business-related expense.

Software. Section 179 provides you an opportunity to take a substantial tax break, which pertains to deductions of business-related expenses on software. If your small business uses desktop software that has been bought off-the-shelf, you can deduct the full cost of software. However, such software should have been put to service between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2014 to qualify for 100 percent cost deduction in the year it was bought. In the case, the software came with the computer and its price is not calculated separately, then such software is considered to be the part of the hardware. The cost of the hardware should be depreciated over the period of five years. Some small business use cloud-based services instead of desktop software to handle their business transactions. In such scenarios, tax deduction for the monthly fee charged by the service provider can be availed. The IRS does not stipulate a dollar limit for the monthly fee of subscription to cloud-based services.

Bad Debts. If someone dupes you in the course of your business, the bad debts can be deducted from the taxable income depending on the type of your business. Small business dealing in goods can avail deduction of bad debts to the extent of the cost of goods sold for which they never received the payment. However, the tables turn when it comes to small businesses rendering services. They cannot claim the deduction for bad debts for the services they provided but never got paid for.

Interest on Borrowed Capital. If you have borrowed a loan to finance your business operations, the interest as well as the carrying expenses is fully deductible. Sometimes, the small business owners take personal loans and use the money to finance their business activities. Even in such scenarios, the interest and carrying expenses are completely deductible. Make sure you take advantage of each and every tax deduction that you are legitimately eligible for this year. Keep good records to support your claims.

1040Return.com provides tax software resources, information, tools, and more. It has been designed to help the self-employed and small business owner. They have also conducted research to calculate the average net profit for all 318 industries, based off of average gross sales. This free information helps small business owners maintain accurate records and provides an idea of IRS expectations. They also provide audit protection insurance that helps if there is ever an audit. For more information on 1040Return.com visit the site at: www.1040Return.com.

About 1040Return.com

Since 1998, 1040Return.com has provided a range of tax-related services to assist small businesses and those who are self employed. They offer tax preparation, audit protection insurance, a video library, expense forms, and a variety of other tools and resources. The company is owned by John Gregory, a tax practitioner and Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service. For more information on 1040Return.com visit the site at: www.1040Return.com.

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/tax-deductions-for-small-business/feed/0Canon Partners With SCORE Foundationhttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/canon-partners-score-foundation/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/canon-partners-score-foundation/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 15:40:43 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=42191Canon U.S.A. Partners with the SCORE Foundation to Support Small Business Owners Interested in Pursuing Entrepreneurship or Growing Their Existing Business Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, has partnered with the SCORE Foundation, America’s premier source of free and confidential small business mentoring and advice, to deliver resources such as custom information […]

Canon U.S.A. Partners with the SCORE Foundation to Support Small Business Owners Interested in Pursuing Entrepreneurship or Growing Their Existing Business

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, has partnered with the SCORE Foundation, America’s premier source of free and confidential small business mentoring and advice, to deliver resources such as custom information and education modules to help small business owners make a smart start. Through its website and social media engagement (#SCOREWithCanon), Canon will work with the SCORE Foundation to promote formation, growth, and success of small business and job creation nationwide through mentoring and educating entrepreneurs.

Updates on Canon Social Media

Small business owners are encouraged to follow the @CanonUSAImaging Twitter handle and the Canon U.S.A. LinkedIn® page through June of this year, to obtain advice from the SCORE Foundation on how to start and grow a business. The SCORE Foundation has over 11,000 volunteer mentors and hosts over 15,000 workshops held nationwide, with a goal to help small businesses get off the ground and on the road to success. To participate in the conversation, small business owners can provide their own tips using the social media hashtag #SCOREWithCanon.

“Today’s small business owners are savvy and crave knowledge that will help them build their businesses on a strong foundation,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “They put so much effort into creating and growing their businesses and Canon is thrilled to work with the SCORE Foundation to help provide support and a wealth of resources to help the dreams of small business owners come true.”

“The U.S. economy is in a historic upswing. American small business owners are ready to take on new opportunities and mentoring is more important now than in the past,” said David R. Bobbitt, president of the SCORE Foundation, “We are honored that Canon has partnered with SCORE to help ensure small business owners have the opportunity and access to resources to put them on the path for success.”

Canon U.S.A. recently launched the MAXIFY series of printers designed to support growing small businesses and home offices. For more information, please visit www.shop.usa.canon.com/MAXIFY.

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 10 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE provides small business mentoring, workshops and education to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. More than 11,000 business experts volunteer as mentors in over 320 chapters serving local communities with entrepreneur education.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranked third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2014† and is one of Fortune Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies in 2015. In 2014, Canon U.S.A. received the PCMag.com Readers’ Choice Award for Service and Reliability in the digital camera and printer categories for the 11th consecutive year. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company’s RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA.

]]>http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/canon-partners-score-foundation/feed/0Phishing Is Top Concernhttp://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/phishing-top-concern/
http://www.sbomag.com/2015/03/phishing-top-concern/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 09:12:57 +0000http://www.sbomag.com/?p=42184Study Shows 83% Security Concerns Directly Related to Phishing A KnowBe4 co-sponsored study by Osterman Research shows majority of security concerns are directly related to phishing, however nearly 80% see no improvement in the phishing problem and a third see the problem getting worse Data breaches, phishing and malware threats have proliferated as cyber criminals […]

A KnowBe4 co-sponsored study by Osterman Research shows majority of security concerns are directly related to phishing, however nearly 80% see no improvement in the phishing problem and a third see the problem getting worse

Data breaches, phishing and malware threats have proliferated as cyber criminals become more sophisticated and their methods stealthier. A new study shows five out of six of the most serious security focused concerns of IT decision makers are directly related to phishing or the aftermath of a successful phishing attack. Malware infiltration is getting worse; the study showed 67% of networks surveyed were successfully infiltrated by malware through email and another 63% through web surfing. In addition, 23% were uncertain how they were infiltrated.

Opportunities for Phishing Abound

According to KnowBe4 CEO Stu Sjouwerman, “With 122 billion emails being sent every hour, opportunities for phishing or spear-phishing abound. It is becoming easier than ever to gather personal information and use this to tailor a spear-phishing email to a CEO or finance executive and use it to pilfer millions of of dollars just using email. Effective security awareness training can mitigate this risk.”

Further results of the study show:

Only 1 in 5 organizations (21%) say their phishing problem has improved

Just 22% are getting good results with training end users on detecting and dealing with phishing threats.

A mere 8% use a human firewall approach to phish test and train users

A small minority of just 14% uses phishing tests on employees

51% use a yearly breakroom approach or do nothing at all to train employees

26% do short monthly training videos

Sjouwerman further noted, “The consequences of these growing cyber threats can be devastating. It can be the loss of millions of sensitive customer data records to the loss of intellectual property like trade secrets or marketing plans. Massive potential losses are the result of not preventing or effectively mitigating these threats. Effective programs like Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training and automated simulated phishing tools are far more cost effective than dealing with the fallout of a data breach.”

For more information or to get a free phishing test to see how “phish-prone” your employees are, visit www.knowbe4.com

About Stu Sjouwerman and KnowBe4
Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”) is the founder and CEO of KnowBe4, LLC, which provides web-based Security Awareness Training (employee security education and behavior management) to small and medium-sized enterprises. A data security expert with more than 30 years in the IT industry, Sjouwerman was the co-founder of Inc. 500 company Sunbelt Software, an award-winning anti-malware software company that he and his partner sold to GFI Software in 2010. Realizing that the human element of security was being seriously neglected, Sjouwerman decided to help entrepreneurs tackle cybercrime tactics through advanced security awareness training. KnowBe4 services hundreds of customers in a variety of industries, including highly-regulated fields such as healthcare, finance and insurance and is experiencing explosive growth with a surge of 427% in 2013 alone. Sjouwerman is the author of four books, with his latest being Cyberheist: The Biggest Financial Threat Facing American Businesses.

About Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick is an internationally recognized computer security expert with extensive experience in exposing the vulnerabilities of complex operating systems and telecommunications devices. He gained notoriety as a highly skilled hacker who penetrated some of the most resilient computer systems ever developed. Today, Mitnick is renowned as an information security consultant and speaker, and has authored three books, including The New York Times best seller Ghost in the Wires. His latest endeavor is a collaboration with KnowBe4, LLC.